" And so it was arranged.
"If you will come with Stephen and me, Tantino," the Prince said, "we
shall be the lighter load and get there first. Madame Loraine and Olga
can go with Serge and Lord Courtray, they will take the blacks; that
leaves Valonne for Sonia and her husband. Will this please everyone?"
Apparently it did, for thus they started. It was an enchanting drive
over the snow. They seemed to fly along, once they had left the town,
and the weird bleak country, unmarked by any boundaries, impressed both
Tamara and Jack. And while Tamara was speculating upon its mystical
side, Lord Courtray was gauging its possibilities for sport.
They at last skirted a dark forest, which seemed to stretch for miles,
and then after nearly three hours' drive arrived at the entrance to
Milasl?v.
They went through a wild, rough sort of park, and then came in view of
the house--a great place with tall Ionic pillars supporting the front,
and wings on each side--while beyond, stretching in an irregular mass,
was a wooden structure of a much earlier date.
It all appeared delightfully incongruous and a trifle makeshift to
Tamara and Jack when they got out of their sleigh and were welcomed by
their host.
A bare hall, at one side showing discolored marks of mould on the wall,
decorated in what was the Russian Empire style, a beautiful conception
retaining the classic lines of the French and yet with an added
richness of its own.
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